Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make the House aware of the sad passing of a remarkable member of the community in the town of Bellingen in my electorate. Mrs Madeline Halpin passed away recently at the age of 96 after not only raising a family of five and running a local business but also performing a lifetime of voluntary work. I should mention at this point that Mrs Halpin was the grandmother of the member for Hunter, and I extend my personal sympathies to him and his family on their loss.

It is no exaggeration to say that rural Australia has been built on a sense of community: a sense of what can be achieved when people come together with no sense of personal or material gain and only a sense of what can be achieved when well-meaning people freely give their time and energy to projects that benefit others. Mrs Halpin epitomised this sense of community.

Mrs Halpin moved from Bowraville to Bellingen after her marriage to Jack Halpin in 1933. The Halpins built their house in Ford Street, Bellingen, where they brought up five children and where she lived for the rest of her life. This house was the setting for some of her very prominent voluntary work. The Halpin family ran a successful business in Bellingen, a well-known local retail outlet. I understand that the member for Hunter served some of his early working time in the business. Among the many organisations she supported was the Catholic Women’s League, of which she was a member for some 70 years. Over the years, she had cleaned the church and worked on and cooked for street stalls. Indeed, I am told that even in her latter years she was famous for making probably the best sponges in the country. She arranged flowers for Mass, weddings and other special services and produced the floral exhibit for the annual Bellingen Agricultural Show.

An active supporter of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Mrs Halpin’s home was frequently used as the venue for fundraising events for the society and for the women’s league. Her work for the church alone would have provided an admirable record of charitable work, but she was also active in many other areas. In 1958, Mrs Halpin joined the hospital auxiliary and went on to serve as president for 23 years, from 1972 to 1995, earning a 40-year service bar for her life membership. The Pink Ladies and the ambulance auxiliary have also been the beneficiaries of her endless energy and selflessness. For 11 years she served as an organising secretary of the agricultural show committee and also worked with the local museum, fire brigade, junior football club and girls’ hockey teams, and Meals on Wheels for 26 years.

Of course, all of this work for others was in addition to raising her own family of five children, 14 grandchildren—one of whom, as I said, sits in this House—and 20 great-grandchildren, a task which most of us would regard as sufficient for one lifetime and possibly more. In 1993, she and her husband Jack renewed their marriage vows to mark their diamond wedding anniversary. Sadly, Jack passed away some three years later.

I am sure she was the last person to seek recognition for her voluntary work, but her contribution to her community was rightly recognised. In 2002, she received the Bellingen Shire Citizen of the Year Award on Australia Day and later that same year was presented with the New South Wales Premier’s Award. I was privileged to recently attend a community celebration to recognise her award of the Order of Australia. Let me remind the House that the award is given to those who have made a significant contribution to the community. In view of the significance of rural community building to the building of our nation, it was only fitting that national recognition should have been given to Mrs Halpin through the awards she received from her state and from her shire.

It is difficult to pay fitting tribute to more than 70 years voluntary work in the five minutes I have available to me here, but I hope that I have given the House some idea of the immense service Mrs Halpin gave to her community, and the fact that she remained active all through her life. Last year, she performed the opening of the Bellingen Agricultural Show and the show president was quoted in the local press as saying of Mrs Halpin: ‘Her elegance and charm brought a touch of class and nostalgia to the official opening.’ As we know, Mrs Halpin’s qualities went well beyond her elegance and charm. I am delighted that we were able to honour her with the Order of Australia. I think that award is a fitting tribute to a great Australian who will be greatly missed.